Maria Mourani (born May 19, 1969) is a Canadian politician who was elected as a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the federal riding of
Ahuntsic
Ahuntsic (; French pronunciation ) is a district in the northern part of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Originally an independent village, Ahuntsic was first annexed by Montreal in 1910, then merged into the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville in 2002. ...
in Canada. She was formerly a member of the
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
before leaving the party over its support for the proposed
Quebec Charter of Values
The Charter of Quebec Values () was Bill 60 in the Canadian province of Quebec, introduced by the governing Parti Québécois in 2013 under Premier Pauline Marois, trying to legislate the Quebec controversy on reasonable accommodation. The PQ cab ...
. She joined the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
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*
*
*
*
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in November 2014 but was not a member of the party's caucus due to the party's policy against
crossing the floor
In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...
; she stood for the NDP in the
2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.
The election was held to elect m ...
, but did not win. Mourani was the first woman of Lebanese origin elected to the Canadian House of Commons.
In 2017, she became the Quebec representative in the Permanent Delegation of Canada at
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
.
Before politics
Mourani was born in
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
.
Of Lebanese descent, Mourani immigrated to Canada in 1988. She has held positions as rehabilitation consultant, professor, researcher, and parole officer.
She is a former parole officer for
Correctional Service of Canada
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; french: Service correctionnel du Canada), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of ...
. She is a former member of the Saint-Laurent volunteer action, Henri-Beaulieu school establishment council, Founoun artistic journal, Quebec Association of Criminologists, and the Reflection Committee and Social Action. She is the former President of the Bloc's citizen's committee and on the
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
riding executive in the provincial riding of
Acadie and the Committee director of the PQ orientation congress. She was also a freelance writer for ''L'Avenir''.
Maria Mourani is also the author of ''La face cachée des gangs de rue'' (October 2006), a book about street gangs in Montreal. She followed it up with a second book on street gang networks in Canada, United States and Central America entitled ''Gangs de rue inc.'' (September 2009).
She was a co-founder and a co-president of the Canadian Lebanese Friendship Association in the Canadian Parliament as well as the President of the Algerian Canadian Friendship Association.
On 15 August 2008, she was awarded an honorary medal in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
by the
World Lebanese Cultural Union
World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) (Arabic:الجامعة اللبنانية الثقافية في العالم Al Jami'a al Lubnaniyya al Thaqafiyya fil 'Alam; French: Union libanaise culturelle mondiale (ULCM); Spanish: Unión Libanesa Cultu ...
(WLCU).
Political career
In the
2003 Quebec election, she ran unsuccessfully as the PQ candidate in Acadie.
She was elected in the
2006 Canadian federal election and reelected in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
. She was consequently assigned as the Bloc Québécois Critic on Public Security and on the Status of Women in the Canadian Parliament.
After the
2011 federal election Mourani was one of only four Bloc Québécois MPs left in the House of Commons, the only Bloc member from the Montreal area, and the only female Bloc MP in the 41st Parliament.
She declared her candidacy in the
Bloc Québécois leadership election that was held to choose a successor to
Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe (; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian retired politician, proponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement and former leader of the Bloc Québécois. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for over 20 years and ...
and ran on a platform of making the Bloc more independent from the
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
.
She was defeated on the second ballot by former MP
Daniel Paillé
Daniel Paillé (; born April 1, 1950) is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Prévost in the National Assembly of Quebec from 1994 to 1996 as a member of the Parti Québécois, and represented the district of Hochelaga in t ...
on December 11, 2011.
She was expelled from the Bloc Quebecois caucus on September 12, 2013, for opposing the
Quebec Charter of Values
The Charter of Quebec Values () was Bill 60 in the Canadian province of Quebec, introduced by the governing Parti Québécois in 2013 under Premier Pauline Marois, trying to legislate the Quebec controversy on reasonable accommodation. The PQ cab ...
and subsequently sat as an independent for the remainder of her term as MP.
On December 18, 2013, Mourani surprised citizens by announcing that she had renounced
sovereigntism
Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from french: souverainisme, , meaning the ideology of sovereignty) is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation o ...
. She now believed that
Canadian federalism
Canadian federalism () involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada.
Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven go ...
was the best way to protect minority rights, and argued that the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
was best suited to protect "the Quebec identity and all citizens of Quebec." She also accused the PQ of running its election campaign "on the backs of believers."
On November 19, 2014, Mourani announced that she would run for the
NDP
NDP may stand for:
Computing
* Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol
* Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP
* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
Government
* National ...
in
the next election, though as per the party's policy on
crossing the floor
In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...
she remained an independent MP until the election.
On January 21, 2015 she was acclaimed the NDP's candidate in the renamed
Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Ahuntsic-Cartierville ( (local accent)) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal. It comprises two main neighbourhoods, Ahuntsic, ...
for the
2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.
The election was held to elect m ...
, but lost her seat to rival
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate
Mélanie Joly
Mélanie Joly (born January 16, 1979) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), Minister of Foreign Affairs since October 2021. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Party, Joly repr ...
.
After the 2015 elections, she opened a consultancy office ''Mourani-Criminologie'' on
criminology
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
with a concentration on issues of
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
and gangs,
juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
,
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
,
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and
international terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. She is a member of the Quebec Professional Order of Criminologists.
On 25 October 2017, the Quebec government nominated Mourani as the Quebec representative in the Permanent Delegation of Canada at the
(UNESCO) in Paris replacing
Julie Miville-Dechêne
Julie Miville-Dechêne (born July 10, 1959) is a Canadian senator and former journalist.
She is a former journalist and broadcaster with Radio-Canada and spent 25 years as a public affairs correspondent for the network in Washington, D.C., Toron ...
. She assumes her position starting 5 December 2017.
Bibliography
;Books
* ''La face cachée des gangs de rue'', Les Éditions de l'Homme, 2006, 211 pages
* ''Gangs de rue inc. : leurs réseaux au Canada et dans les Amériques'', Les éditions de l'Homme, 2009, 416 pages,
;Others
*Rose Dufour, Ina Motoi (preface by Maria Mourani and Hélène Manseau), ''La femme, sa sexualité et son pouvoir sexuel: programme d'appropriation de sa sexualité'', Les Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2011
*''Notre indépendance: 28 Québécois s'expriment'' (collective book), under the direction of Catherine Fillion-Lauzièr, Stanké, 2012
Electoral record
, -
, -
, -
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Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
hold
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, align="right",
References
External links
Official site*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mourani, Maria
1969 births
Living people
Bloc Québécois MPs
Canadian Maronites
Women members of the House of Commons of Canada
Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons
Ivorian emigrants to Canada
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec
New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
People from Abidjan
Probation and parole officers
Women in Quebec politics
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian women politicians
Canadian politicians of Lebanese descent
Politicians affected by a party expulsion process